Saved
by the-academy-isn't
Summary: They always said that Max Ride was going to end like this. But there was one part they never expected... Takes place long after Angel. Read with caution.
1. Smile on Her Face

(A/N: I don't own anything. The last line is the voice.. I wrote this awhile ago, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. If it sucks, bad, don't be afraid to say so. Flames are my best friend right now.)

The sky is falling... Faster and faster with every shaking, staggered breath that I breathe through the blood pouring out of my open mouth like a disgusting waterfall...and I am falling with it. My lifelines bent backwards, in complete disrepair, and, with no other option left, I take every sidekick (the kind I used to pride myself on), every jab to the gut ( the kind I worked so hard to master), and every right hook ( the kind I used to deliver mercilessly), each time losing a bit more of the dignity that the vicious love birds haven't taken yet.

I land, with them right behind me, beating the living (and dying, at this point) daylights out of me, among the ruins of a city that I, so naively, looked upon for answers at the age of fourteen. At fourteen, I had my best friend by my side- Fang, what happened to us? I had never even met Maya, never even dreamed that someone like her could even exist. I knew that the whitecoats where capable of acts of horror (how could I not?) but I never expected her. I should have. I should have killed her when I had the chance.

But I am not fourteen now! In the great scheme of things, six years is not a long time. My life, however, in the span of twenty years, has gone from pure torture, to happiness, to sole responsibility, to living on the edge of the edge, to _this._ I honestly thought that our lives sucked when we were on the lam. I was wrong. If given the chance, I would go relive those days in a heartbeat. This sucks.

But what is "_this_" exactly? My best friend and my clone, destroying me, and my flock betraying me, practically their mother, who raised them, betraying me again, staring me down with cold, unfeeling eyes that I didn't know they were capable of! That's what "_this_" is, and I'd give anything to go back, and make sure this never even happens. But in real life, that's not something I can just do, at the push of a button.

I always knew that this was how I was going to die, in a pool of my own body fluids. Blood and sweat and spit all over. Evidence of a fight well fought. But I never saw it quite like this. When I imagined my death, as a child, I saw an experiment gone horribly, horribly wrong. Foul injections, poison, abuse, dissections. But as I grew older? I knew that I would go down fighting.

The thing I never accounted for was my opponent. I never saw Fang as an enemy until now, but he is my enemy, after all, he's just killed me. And he just had to do it with Maya, too. They couldn't do it apart, because we all know that I could take them, individually. The odds just had to be uneven. They were too cowardly to try their luck...of course, I know Fang's fighting style like the back of my hand, and Maya is programmed to be a copy of me...she _is_ the back of my hand. But it doesn't matter, anyway... It's all for the best. I'm past my time. Outdated. Worthless. Or, at least, that's what they'd ground out in between punches.

I'm collapsed on the concrete now, and Fang is staring into my eyes, and even if its been seven years since I truly knew him, best friends are best friends, and I know that he's thinking about when we were kids, before all this crap that's jaded us even worse than before. Ages ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen... Hell, even fourteen. When we were Max and Fang. Fang and Max. The dynamic, heart-stopping, ass-kicking, world-saving duo. Life was beautiful then, even if we couldn't appreciate it. Now, I would give anything in a heartbeat to go back to being a fourteen-year-old on the run. I guess Fang wouldn't stay around for the incredible, indescribable, Maximum Ride.

Despite all that's gone down, despite the hell that's been all twenty years of my pathetic life, I am happy. Despite how I got here, and how my candle will actually flicker out, I'm still here anyway. I'm not dying because of the scientists at the school, because that's where it all started, I'm not in a cage, and I'm not dying because a tattoo on the back of my neck says I should. I'm lying in a puddle of my own blood and sweat, but not my tears, because I'm Maximum Ride, savior of the globe, and I'm too strong to cry. I'm a mess of bones and feathers, at my best friend's hand, and honestly? I'm ecstatic about it. When I started this final fight, I wanted to kill them for trying to kill me, but eventually, I accepted the lost cause that is my life. The odds were uneven. I had no chance, and I knew it. I am happy, joyful, and gleeful to go. I think I'm allowed that, after everything I've been through and everything I did for my flock, only to have them turn right around and stab me in the back, the peace and quiet of being _dead,_ no longer a victim to the cruel advances of life.

Fang is looking into my eyes, which are closing rapidly as my clone swings back her leg to snap my neck and I try too, too hard to get one more message through to him with our best-friend telepathic powers. _I'm sorry! I'm SORRY! I wish you didn't have to end us like this! I love you, Fang! Do you love me? Didn't you love me, Fang? Once upon a time... Fang..._

My eyes are closing rapidly, and I take in that last, hissing breath that I've been dreaming about since before I can remember...

I am dying with a smile on my face... I am saved...

Three...

Two...

One...

_Congratulations, Maximum Ride. You can let go now._


	2. See You Soon

Max. Max. Max.

So many ways to describe Maximum.

Best friend. _Mine, for fifteen years…_

Mother. _To her own children, to the flock…_

Sister. _To Iggy, to Nudge, to Ella, to Ari, to me…_

Daughter. _To Dr. Martinez, the way she looked at her…To Jeb, even…_

Friend. _To us all…_

Wife. _Dylan's, for the past six years…_

Leader. _To the whole world…_

**And now, seeing her like this, I realize my mistake. We would have been better if the original flock stayed together. Jeb and Angel said that our backstory, our past together, made us more vulnerable in the face of death. They said that it would make us more likely to think with our hearts and not our heads, Max especially. He was wrong. She was wrong. Our pasts, our childhood, made us able to trust and be trusted. We had potential, and it was me who destroyed that.**

**Maximum Ride was our leader, and by the time I see her in this way, destroyed,** _**at my own hand,**_ **I know that the past six years were a mistake. I never should have left. I should have stayed, led the flock by her side. Conquered our enemies and saved the world in the same way we had survived all those years.**

**She was always right. Always, every time. Right when she saved Ari, right when she said I replaced her with Maya, right when she called Dylan an asset to the flock. Right when she said that she should have killed Maya when she had the chance, the very first time. She saw that Maya was jealous, unstable, following her own agenda. She saw every move Maya made coming. She knew that Maya had a voice too, she knew that Maya would say that she was past her time. And she knew I would agree with Maya. She knew that the flock would see Maya and me aligned against her, and would revolt, too. She knew that against us, she had no chance fighting. She might not have known she would lose at the start of the fight, but she took the beatings gracefully when she knew it was over for her. Max was always somewhat admirable like that; she manages to show you up and prove who the better person is, even in such a cruel death.**

**Watching her eyes struggle to stay open, I realize that she's trying to talk to me. Not with words. Half of the conversations I had with Max throughout our years together had no words at all. She could speak whole paragraphs without uttering a sound.**

**And I hear what she's trying to say, I do. And I don't know how to reply, because what is she apologizing for? It was I who hurt her, was her downfall, and needs to say sorry. So I look back at her, tears threatening to brim over my eyelids, and I try to say that yes, I love her too, how could I not? She was, after all, the incredible, indescribable, Maximum Ride, who I would follow to the end of the world.**

**And after she's gone, I find myself staring at Maya with a vengeance, but I know I can't kill Maya, not for Max, because Maya isn't the real criminal. Not here. I am.**

_I'm sorry, Maximum Ride. See you soon._

**Thanks so much for the amazing reviews! And if anybody's interested, this chapter marks my eligibility as a beta, so feel free to ask!**


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